The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 eBook

“When the city was built, there came, O king,
numerous Brahmanas well-acquainted with all the Vedas
and conversant with every language, wishing to dwell
there. And there came also unto that town numerous
merchants from every direction, in the hope of earning
wealth. There also came numerous persons well-skilled
in all the arts, wishing to take up their abode there.
And around the city were laid out many delightful
gardens adorned with numerous trees bearing both fruits
and flowers. There were Amras (mango trees) and
Amaratakas, and Kadamvas and Asokas, and Champakas;
and Punnagas and Nagas and Lakuchas and Panasas; and
Salas and Talas (palm trees) and Tamalas and Vakulas,
and Ketakas with their fragrant loads; beautiful and
blossoming and grand Amalakas with branches bent down
with the weight of fruits and Lodhras and blossoming
Ankolas; and Jamvus (blackberry trees) and Patalas
and Kunjakas and Atimuktas; and Karaviras and Parijatas
and numerous other kinds of trees always adorned with
flowers and fruits and alive with feathery creatures
of various species. And those verdant groves
always resounded with the notes of maddened peacocks
and Kokilas (blackbirds). And there were various
pleasure-houses, bright as mirrors, and numerous bowers
of creepers, and charming and artificial hillocks,
and many lakes full to the brim of crystal water,
and delightful tanks fragrant with lotuses and lilies
and adorned with swans and ducks and chakravakas (brahminy
ducks). And there were many delicious pools overgrown
with fine aquatic plants. And there were also
diverse ponds of great beauty and large dimension.
And, O king, the joy of the Pandavas increased from
day to day, in consequence of their residence in that
large kingdom that was peopled with pious men.

“Thus in consequence of the virtuous behaviour
of Bhishma and king Dhritarashtra towards them, the
Pandavas took up their abode in Khandavaprastha.
Adorned with those five mighty warriors, each equal
unto Indra himself, that foremost of cities looked
like Bhogavati (the capital of the nether kingdom)
adorned with the Nagas. And, O monarch, having
settled the Pandavas there, the heroic Krishna, obtaining
their leave, came back with Rama to Dwaravati.’”

SECTION CCX

(Rajya-labha Parva)

“Janamejaya said, ’O thou possessed of
ascetic wealth, what did those high-souled ones, my
grandsires, the illustrious Pandavas, do, after obtaining
the kingdom of Indraprastha? How did their wife
Draupadi obey them all? How is it also that no
dissensions arose amongst those illustrious rulers
of men, all attached to one wife, viz., Krishna?
O thou of the wealth of asceticism, I wish to hear
everything in detail regarding the behaviour towards
one another of those rulers of men after their union
with Krishna.’